Navy Weighs Sending A Carrier Home Soon

April 13, 2003|By DAVID LERMAN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Several aircraft carriers conducting strikes on Iraq might be sent home in coming days, possibly including the Norfolk-based USS Theodore Roosevelt, the commander of all naval forces in the Persian Gulf region said Saturday.

With the need for air power now diminishing as hostilities begin to wind down, military leaders are starting to reassess whether five carrier battle groups are still required in the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean, said Vice Adm. Timothy Keating.

"We're working on a plan to get them home as quickly as we can," said Keating, who spoke to reporters at the Pentagon by video teleconference from his headquarters in Bahrain.

"But I have not received any orders to do that yet."

The Roosevelt and the USS Harry Truman, also from Hampton Roads, are operating in the eastern Mediterranean.

"We might retain one of the two carriers in the Med and let the other one return home," Keating said.

While no decision has been made, he suggested the Roosevelt was the more likely carrier to depart.

The Truman, he noted, is on its regularly scheduled six-month deployment. The ship left Norfolk in December and is scheduled to return home around the end of May.

But the Roosevelt had to race to the Mediterranean in February, months ahead of its planned deployment. The accelerated timetable disrupted the lives of thousands of Hampton Roads families.

Of the three aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, the USS Kitty Hawk, based in Japan, could be leaving in coming days, Keating said. The USS Constellation, based in San Diego, might also depart soon.

The USS Nimitz, also from San Diego, just arrived in the Gulf to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln is now en route to its homeport of Everett, Washington, after spending nearly 10 months at sea, Keating said.

The Navy tries to limit peacetime deployments to six months.

Each aircraft carrier has about 75 aircraft and travels with a battle group of warships armed with cruise missiles.

The ability to make do with fewer carriers is now possible because the scope and intensity of the air war is declining.

In the early phase of the war, fighter pilots from the Truman and Roosevelt launched strikes over much of northern Iraq.

But now, with most fixed targets already hit, the Navy planes are being used to provide close air support for soldiers and Marines on the ground in the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, Keating said.

"The prosecution of air-to-ground targets is decreasing somewhat," he said. "It's very likely we'll be able to pull some naval assets out of the theater," or region.

But Keating stressed that any decision to send ships home will be made by Gen. Tommy Franks, the top war commander.

More than 140 ships from President Bush's "coalition of the willing" are in the Iraq region and have launched more than 7,000 sorties, or combat flights, since the war began, Keating said.

The ships have fired more than 800 Tomahawk cruise missiles, with fewer than 10 missing their targets, he said. A few missiles were discovered in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, raising tensions in those countries.

Turkey initially refused to allow U.S. pilots to fly through its air space, forcing pilots from the Truman and Roosevelt to add hours to their flights by flying through Egypt and the Red Sea to approach Iraq from the south.

Keating also acknowledged a temporary shortage of tanker planes used to refuel fighter jets in the air during the early days of the war.

"There were some early growing pains in the air, with hundreds of airplanes in the air simultaneously," he said. "But they were resolved, with no impact on the campaign."

He said the need for fuel was lessened by the use of the new F/A-18 Super Hornets, which can fly farther and carry more ammunition than regular Hornets, while also serving as tankers to transport gas.

David Lerman can be reached at (202) 824-8224 or by e-mail at dlerman@tribune.com.